Heddle frame support



March 14, 1944. R. T. OSTEEN 2,344,212

HEDDLE FRAME SUPPORT Filed June' 17. 1943 x ogxm J?" 17L H 5 v fl! 6 Fig.6.

' 2 I JNVENTOR,

,Rz chard I. Oszeen ATTORNEY. i

Patented Mar. 14, 1944 HEDDLE FRAME SUPPORT Richard T. Osteen, Greenville, S. 0., assignor to Walker Manufacturing Company, Inc., Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application June 17, 1943, Serial No. 491,215

4 Claims.

The object of the invention is to provide improvements in loom harnesses, generally speaking, and more particularly in the means for supportingand elevating the heddle frames and/or returning said frames to their inactive depressed positions.

Since early times, the fibrous cord heddles of certain looms have been supported directly by and between transversely extending, vertically spaced shafts, and probably in order to distribute the tension as equally a possible, the cables, straps, etc. employed to elevate the heddles have been attached to intermediate portions of said shafts, that is, at points well within the outer limits thereof. Such looms having fibrous heddles are today used almost exclusively in schools, institutions and by individuals. However, even with the advent of the steel wire (1. e., ribbonlike) heddle in commercial looms and the step by step improvement in supporting the same, usually by and between heddle bars spaced from the shafts within the heddle frame, the method of upporting, elevating and depressing the same has remained substantially the same, although the intermediate attachment of the cables, straps and th like has never ceased to interfere with weavers ready access to the opposite sides of the frame from one side only, as when necessary or desirable to lean or reach over it for various reasons.

One of the principal objects, therefore, is to apply the tension of the straps, cords or the like, to those points or parts of the heddle frames that are stronger and better able to take the strain, thereby removing the strain from the shafts substantially only, as heretofore has been the case. The strongest parts are obviously the metal end pieces or spacing members, and while. it is true that intermediate portions of the frame at times have been braced and strengthened, in order to stand the strain of present-day constructions, attaching the straps, cords and the like in alignment with such intermediate braces obviously shifts the straps and cords definitely into the space needed by the operator in attending to his loom.

The present method of supporting heddle frames in looms is by strapping them to hooks and eyesin the shafts at points well removed from the end members, usually about one-quarter of the length of the frame from each end. For example, in a 45 inch frame the straps or other supports are usually about or 11 inches in from the opposite ends. As a result, the strain and stress i delivered to the shaft, whence the shaft transmits this strain outwardly to the said end members, causing the shaft to bend or flex an indeterminate and varying amount, as no two pieces of Wood are exactly alike or bend exactly similarly, while no two are duplicates as to inherent strength.

The result is that too much wear and tear is placed upon the heddles, which are the most expensive part of the frame. In turn, the heddle bars are hard to keep properly adjusted, and when not properly adjusted, that is, parallel throughout the length of the frame, said heddles break, causing both frequent loom stoppage and generally unsatisfactory work. Therefore, in stopping the shafts from bending, by relieving them of the function of directly elevating and lowering the weight of the entire frame, including the many heddles which it carries, and instead expecting nothing from said shafts except to support and maintain the heddle bars parallel, one is able to offer the mills substantially longer heddle life, and more satisfactory service from both heddles and frames as long as they are in use.

A further and more specific object is to provide a construction of this type, in which the shaft-spacing bars at opposite ends of the frame are integrally or otherwise extended so as to provide hooks or eyes for detachably securing the said elevating and depressing harness thereto.

However, instead of hooks or eye provided upon and as an integral part of the ends of said spacing bars, such hooks, eyes or the like, may be initially separate from and independent of said bars, while equivalent attaching means may be mounted directly upon the shafts, as closely as may be convenient and feasible to the ends thereof. Proceeding still further, the: cables or the like, hereinbefore referred to, mayextend through bores in said shafts and have: knots or other means on their ends to prevent. them from slipping through and from said, bores, or the cables or straps, or attaching means; therefor, may extend around said shafts in laterally reduced or grooved portions thereof.

With the objects thus briefly stated, the invention comprises further details of construction and operation, which are hereinafter fully brought out in the following description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is an elevational view of a frame and harness for looms comprising one embodiment of the invention; Fig. 2 is an end elevation of an enlarged fragmentary portion of the same; and Fig. 3 is a plan view of the same.

In considering this invention, it is to be noted that in old installations only the upper shaft need be changed, whether in the case of new frames in old machines and harness setups, or in remodeling old frames in existing installations, in order to make both sides of the frame equally accessible from either side, while installed in operative position. On the other hand, it is preferable to alter or initially provide both shafts with the improved construction, so that the frame is thereby invertable as well as reversable.

In the claims, reference to one of said shafts is for the purpose of covering cases in which only the upper shaft is altered or made in accordance with the invention, while the lower shaft remains as long in common use, since there is probably no need, even if it should be possible, to reach both sides of the frame from beneath the same. However, the term one of said shafts equally covers use of the invention upon either one or both of said shafts.

Also, in the claimsthe phrase cables, straps, springs, or weights isemployed as a brief term to cover adaptation of the invention to cables, straps and equivalent means for elevating a heddle frame from above, while springs and Weights below said frame are for the purpose of returning it to depressed position following each elevation, and the invention therefore equally covers the connections between said frame and whatever cables, straps, springs, or weights maybe used Furthermore, the intent of the invention is. to cover all manner of connections-between cables, straps, springs, weights and the like on the one hand, and the end and adjacent portions of the frame on the other hand, regardless of whether said connections are by direct contact of the said cables, straps, etc., with the heddle frame (i. e., shafts, spacing bars, or extensions of either), or indirectly through the interposition of hooks, eyes, lugs and their equivalents, as suitable attaching means for said cables, straps, etc.

Referring to Figs. 1, 2 and 3 of the drawing, there is here shown a harness frame for looms,

which frame comprises upper and lower shafts at the lower end of each side member is attached to an. expansion spring 6, weight, or other suitable means for normally holding said frame in its lowermost position, while at the upper end of each side member said eye receives and has secured to it an end of the usual harness straps 1, cables, or the like, by means of which said frame is elevated as desired in the process of weaving, said straps, cables, or the like, passing over one or more pulleys by means of which the straps, etc, are led in the proper direction to their respective actuating means (not shown).

In order to still further secure saidside members to said shafts, angle members 9 are provided upon the adjacent inner sides of said shafts, and secured thereto and to said members in any suitable and well known manner. Each side memher is also provided with pairs of aligned apertures I0, through which extend the end portions of heddle bars II, carrying heddles 12 of any desired type in the usual manner. Each of said bars is secured in position by means of resiliently positioned hooks or latches I2, carried by the side members and extending through apertures l3 in said bars. This heddle-supporting structure is old and well known, but is here illustrated in order to convey the complete idea of the operative association of a standard form of heddle or harness frame and its several parts, except as herein noted, with the elevating and depressing harness herein described.

It will be understood that instead of the integral eye 5, any suitable form. of cableor strapattaching means may be employed, such as screweyes, hooks, or other means which may be secured to said side shaft-spacing members by riveting, welding, brazing, or otherwise, as may be desired.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A heddle-supporting frame, comprising spaced shafts, spacing bars connecting the end portions of said shafts, heddle bars operatively supported between said shafts, frame-shifting means, and means carried by and operative to connect saidishifting means to the end portions of one of'said shafts, said last-named means comprising'extensions of said spacing bars.

2. A heddle-supporting frame, comprising spaced shafts, spacing bars connecting the end portions of said shafts, reciprocatory harness embers, and means connecting said members directly to and in alignment with said spacing bars, said last-named means comprising integral extensions of said spacing bars.

3. A substantially rectangular heddle-supporting frame, comprising spaced shafts, substantially rectilinear spacing bars connecting the end portions of said shafts, reciprocatory harness members, and means'connecting said members to said spacing bars between the planes of the oppositely directed outer surfaces of said bars.

4; A heddle-supporting frame, spaced shafts, spacing bars connecting the end portions of said shafts, frame-shifting means,

, and'means carried by and operative to connect said shifting means to the end portions of 'said' bars between the planes of the oppositely directed outer surfaces of said bars.

RICHARD T. OSTEEN.

comprising 

